Explorations in Polytonality and Other Musical Wonders, Volume 2 (2021)
For 3 recorders
1. My First Rondo
2. Polytonal Organum
3. Trio Sonata (with modal mixture)
4. Quasi Sarabande (in D and F harmonic minor)
5. Continuous Asymmetric Binary (in F major and A-flat minor)
6. Round with variation
7. Afternoon Jazz
Explorations in Polytonality and Other Musical Wonders, Volume 4 (2023)
For 2 synthesisers, xylophone/vibraphone, and drum kit
8. 8-bit gliss
9. Anticipatory funk
10. Atonal shuttle
11. Hetero ballad
12. Lofi not to study to
Vol. 2 commissioned by De Bijloke (Ghent), Lunalia (Mechelen) and Cultuur Gent.
Vol. 4 commissioned by Hochschule der Künste Bern.
The release features two volumes of Explorations in Polytonality and Other Musical Wonders, a series Matthew Shlomowitz began in 2020. Each volume presents a collection of short pieces. Each piece explores an organising principle (e.g., polytonality), technique (e.g., hemiola), texture (e.g., organum), and form (e.g., rondo). Earnest and irreverent in equal measure, Shlomowitz aims to discover fresh possibilities in these approaches, many of which have fallen out of favour in contemporary music production.
Selected glossary:
8-BIT: style of electronic music associated with vintage arcade machines
SHUTTLE: Philip Tagg’s term for a song that has two alternating chords
LOFI: downtempo background music combining elements of hiphop and chill-out music.
POLYTONAL: underrated musical practice where 2 or more keys are simultaneously in play.
CONTINUOUS ASYMMETRIC BINARY: 2 part form (binary); second part is longer than first (asymmetric); first part ends in a different key to where it began (continuous).
AFTERNOON JAZZ: friendly non-hip jazz
Apsara is a flexible ensemble built around the recorder, that has been exploring its own paths in new and early music since its foundation in 2000. Beyond the highly varied instruments of the recorder family, concerts feature giant slide flutes and toy instruments. Apsara regularly uses electronic means and joins hands with other musicians and composers. These collaborations have resulted in world premieres by Alvin Curran, Moritz Eggert, Frederic Rzewski, Annelies Van Parys, Errollyn Wallen, Sarah Wéry, Christian Wolff and others. Always looking for connections between early and recent music, in 2021 Apsara recorded the programme 'En attendant' on video, in which music from the Ars Subtilior by da Caserta and da Bologna is presented alongside a world premiere by Ghent composer Frank Nuyts. Apsara has a long-standing collaboration with composer Matthew Shlomowitz, which included co-conceiving a concert programme 'Weird Light Music' for three recorders and keyboardist Stéphane Ginsburgh, which premiered at De Bijloke in Ghent in 2023.
Quartet Laboratoire met while studying at the HKB (Hochschule der Künste Bern, Switzerland) through their specialisation and passion for contemporary music. In 2023, they were awarded a Carte Blanche evening at the Playtime Festival, enabling them to commission a piece by composer Matthew Shlomowitz, whom they particularly appreciate, both musically and personally, for his style, sense of rhythm, humour and poppy influences.
Matthew Shlomowitz is co-director of Plus Minus Ensemble and Soundmaking podcast, and teaches at University of Southampton. As winner of the Johann Joseph Fux Opera Composition, his opera Electric Dreams was staged at 2017 ORF Musikprotokoll, with a second production in 2023 at Grand Théâtre de Genève. Other pieces include Glücklich, Glücklich, Freude, Freude, written for keyboardist Mark Knoop and SWR Symphonieorchester; Minor Characters, a one-hour show written with Jennifer Walshe for Ensemble Nikel; and 6 Scenes for Turntables and Orchestra written with Mariam Rezaei for Frankfurt Radio Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, and Norwegian Radio Orchestra.
Romane Bouffioux: vol. 4 engineering and editing
Beat Müller: vol. 4 recording assistant
Rainer Arndt: vol. 2 engineering, editing and mixing
Newton Armstrong: vol. 4 mixing; mastering vol. 2 and 4
Cover image: Mark Seabrook, Rockinghorse Cowboy #1
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